Replacing America’s health-care coverage has been a goal of President Barack Obama in his first year in office. However, he isn’t the first commander-in-chief to try to tackle the issue and pass reform. On Jan. 5, 1949, President Harry Truman used his State of the Union address to recommend measures including national health insurance, raising the minimum wage, strengthening the position of organized labor and guaranteeing the civil rights of all Americans. Referencing the popular "New Deal" programs of his predecessor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Truman styled his reform package the "Fair Deal."

Congress ultimately accepted the role of government in maintaining full employment and stabilizing the economy but rejected Truman's proposals for national health insurance, educational aid and federally supported housing programs.

The Digital Reference Team of the Library of Congress has put together a guide to the Library’s presidential resources, including one that highlights Truman and his tenure.

Included in the guide are selections from the Library’s American Memory collections and various online exhibitions, including “American Treasures,” a stellar lineup of some of the institution’s most prized artifacts and documents.

The Library holds the main body of the papers of 23 presidents from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge, comprising about two million manuscript items. Several are online, including those of Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt.

The Prints and Photographs Division has included images relating to medicine in its Pictorial Americana presentation. Included are very colorful posters for patent medicines like Gilbert & Parsons hygienic whiskey for medical use and Wolcott's instant pain annihilator.